


Preferences

by Skylark



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Character Study, College, Established Relationship, Life Choices, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:01:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22502188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skylark/pseuds/Skylark
Summary: Daichi stops at the same vending machine they always stop at on the way home and says, "Oh."
Relationships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 1
Kudos: 62
Collections: Skylark's Holiday Presents





	Preferences

**Author's Note:**

  * For [psiten](https://archiveofourown.org/users/psiten/gifts), [Yrindor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrindor/gifts).



> A holiday gift for friends.

Daichi stops at the same vending machine they always stop at on the way home and says, "Oh."

Suga comes up beside him a moment later, his head bowed as he digs for his coin purse. "What is it?"

"They changed over to the winter drinks," Daichi says, pointing. "Look." Indeed, the writing on the vending machine has changed from つめたい〜 to あったかい〜*, and the color decorating the inside of the machine has turned from blue to a warm orange-gold. "What do you want?"

"You don't remember?" Suga says. Even though he can't see his face, Daichi can still hear the pout in his voice. "Daichi, I'm hurt."

"Oh stop it," Daichi says with a laugh, "as if you could do any better."

"I can," Suga says, and pops coins into the machine and selects a drink without any hesitation. The drink clatters down, and Suga bends down to pick it up and hand it to him. It's so warm in Daichi's mittened hands, blessedly warm after the cold walk home. He savors it for a moment, distracted, before he sees Suga watching him. 

"Hey, that's not fair," he protests. "I like the same thing year round!"

"Green tea in the summer, oolong in the winter," Suga retorts. "It's not _exactly_ the same."

"It's close enough!" he says, nudging Suga a little, but when Suga doesn't laugh his brow furrows. "Hey, are you actually mad I don't remember your favorite drink? I mean, I could write it down or something—"

Suga shakes his head. His smile's a little sad, but it's the first one he's seen out of him this afternoon, so Daichi will take it. "I was just thinking about how some things don't change," he says. "I never used to get a hot drink on the way home from practice because I'd always feel overheated."

 _See,_ Daichi thinks with a small amount of triumph. But when Suga's in a weird mood like this, it's easy to get pulled into pointless arguments that don't solve anything. So Daichi says, "Are you sad because you've changed?"

Suga's gloved hands have drifted back to his change purse, and Daichi can hear muffled clinking as he tumbles the coins between his fingers. "What are we going to do after this?" Suga mumbles. "You're about to graduate, but I'm still going to be in medical school for another three years. What if you get into a company far away from here?"

"I haven't applied to any." 

Suga whirls on him. "Daichi, we _talked_ about this—"

"We did," Daichi says, calm in the face of Suga's rising fire, "and after we talked about it, I still decided I didn't want to apply to anything that was far from you."

"I don't want you to regret anything," Suga says, his quiet voice wound tight with frustration. "I don't want to hold you back—"

"You're not," Daichi says. He glances up and down the street, aware that even though their conversation is quiet, it's still not one they should really be having in public. He wants to hug him, but Suga's head is down and his shoulders are up, a defensive position, and if he tries to touch him right now Suga will only bristle more. "Can we talk about this when we get home?"

"I still want a drink," Suga mutters.

Daichi hesitates, and then reaches into his pocket. It's hard to manipulate coins with his mittens on, so he fumbles a little as he counts out the right amount of change and puts it into the machine. When he hands the drink to Suga, the warmth lingers in his hands for a second.

Suga looks at it, and then up at him with wide eyes. Daichi colors a little bit, looking up as he scratches at his cheek.

"It's not like it was hard to guess," he says. "You like strong flavors."

Out of the corner of his eye he sees Suga look down at the black coffee again, turning it over in his hands. Then he laughs, more a puff of air than something with sound behind it, and his shoulders relax.

"I don't know why I bothered trying to convince you otherwise," Suga says. "You were never going to consider something long distance, even if it would be better for your career."

"Yeah," Daichi says, and smiles a little when Suga casts him an irritated glance anyway. "Hey, remember the first time you tried coffee?"

" _Dai_ chi," Suga says, that familiar exasperated lilt he's so familiar with, and Suga gives his shoulder a light punch. Something inside of Daichi's chest unwinds at the contact.

"You hated it," he presses, grinning, "you made such a face and you nearly spit it out—"

"You didn't warn me that it was going to be _bitter!_ Our senpai told me it was sweet, it's not my fault!"

"How did you not know it was bitter? Can't you tell by the smell?"

"Coffee smells bitter to you?" Suga says, turning away from the machine to walk down the street. "That's so weird."

"What does it smell like to you, then?" Daichi says, a little wounded.

"Like _heaven,_ " Suga says with a happy sigh, and the opening of the can cracks loudly down the quiet street. He takes a deep breath of it and his breath makes a warm cloud as he exhales.

"Some things don't change after all, huh," Daichi says.

Suga gives him a cursory glance and then leans against him as they walk, a gesture as familiar as anything. "Yeah," he says, "I guess you're right."

**Author's Note:**

> * "つめたい〜" means "cold" and "あったかい〜" means "warm," and I think the way they're written on Japanese vending machines is adorable.


End file.
